RAVE award

— 21st June 2012 —

Last week, my co-producer Ryan Barwood and I were presented with a RAVE (Regional Arts Victoria Excellence) Touring Award for the 2011 tour of The Weather and Your Health. This award recognised our ‘outstanding contribution to arts and culture in regional Victoria’. It was a huge honour to receive this award.

Here is what Regional Arts Victoria had to say:

Bethany brought her small two-hander play The Weather and Your Health to Showcase Victoria in 2010. An unexpected frontrunner in the voting process, it resulted in a seven week, 33 venue Victorian tour in 2011. Many of these venues were community-managed which complemented Bethany’s sensitive depiction of rural Australian life. Bethany took much pleasure in sharing stories, and post-show tea and scones, with audiences on the tour and this has made her tour one that will be remembered fondly for a long time in small Victorian communities. The panel felt that Bethany had shown good practice by working at ground level with communities and engaging with them on a genuine and honest level.

Thank you to regional Arts Victoria for their support and advice during the 2011 and 2012 tours, and of course, my hard working, committed and altogether lovely Team Weather. I couldn’t have asked for a better team to work with!

Bing it on!

— 10th June 2012 —

Very excited and incredibly grateful to have been chosen to feature in the first Australian advertising campaign for US search engine, Bing. Team Weather had a great time being followed by a film crew during the recent national tour as they captured footage for the Bing documentary.

The campaign has already been appearing online and in various print media, but tonight will be a first for me: a 30second version of the documentary will be aired on TV. Let me know if you catch it!

In other news, I'm excited to be wrapping up funding reports and touring acquittals for the national tour of The Weather and Your Health. I've also just purchased a few new stationery supplies to help keep my life organised. It's all inspiration for the next project: cannot wait to start spending more time on Reception: The Musical!

That's all for now. I'm off to tape the ads during 60 minutes...

That's a Wrap!

— 2nd June 2012 —

The national tour of The Weather and Your Health came to a sweet end last Sunday evening at Melbourne’s iconic La Mama Theatre. We finished in style, with an insightful Q&A session taking place in the theatre whilst the crew distributed slices of passionfruit sponge cake amongst the visiting drama students and audience members.

Our Visitors Book is overflowing with delightful and moving responses from audiences across Australia. Someone recently asked whether I actually read the book. I was pleased to tell them that the team often gather together to wind down after a show armed with a cuppa and the audience response book. (Ohh, it's good, clean fun on this tour, I tell you!) You can read a selection of the amazing audience responses here.

I’d like to thank each member of Team Weather for their outstanding contribution to the national tour:

Daniel – you were a delight to tease backstage. Thank you for being a part of this adventure. And thank you for the singing!

Ash – I’m just so glad we found you! Thank you for taking the reigns and managing every task with a calm, professional and kind manner. You’re amazing!

David – You’ve been there since before the show was even an idea on butcher’s paper. I can’t thank you enough for your commitment to the play, and your advice as a director and mentor.

Joe – Thank you for being a last minute member of Team Weather. We’re all incredibly grateful to have had you around during the last weeks of the tour.

Ryan – My incredible co-producer, tour manager and friend. You’re an energetic ray of sunshine. I couldn’t have managed any of this without you by my side advising, encouraging and making me smile. Here’s to many more!

Thank you to my family, friends and donors. Your support means more than you will ever know. I feel incredibly blessed and am so glad that we were able to share this adventure together.

Finally, to our wonderful audiences who have helped bring these stories to life and made it a joy to perform the show night after night, in town after town. Thank you for making it all worthwhile!